He who fumbles must be humble. |
Hello Stewies! The students are back, and fall (eh hem… football) is just around the corner! It’s an exciting time to be in Athens as fresh faces join our community. Speaking of fresh, many of you are rolling out new, innovative stewardship in the new fiscal year while hosting fall donor recognition events. We all have a lot of exciting things to look forward to!
It was fun and informative to hear several stewardship disasters at our recent meeting. Thank you to our speakers for being open and honest! We all make mistakes, and supportive groups like Team Stewardship help us learn from them together. I feel certain that the successes of this talented group of stewardship professionals far outshine any disasters. Thank you for being an important part of UGA’s stewardship community! Tony Stringer Senior Director of Donor Relations & Stewardship |
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College of Public Health
THANK YOU, College of Public Health, for hosting an exciting and informative Team Stewardship! We heard from Stewie Lynnsey Lafayette and Associate Dean Erin Lipp about the top priorities at CPH, including student assistantships, the CARE Center, and the Health Equity Hub. We also learned about The 2005 Society, a society named in honor of the year the college was founded. Gifts contributed to the College of Public Health Fund are used to support financial needs in the form of scholarships, housing, and travel.
For more information, reach out to Lynnsey Lafayette. |
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Creating a Stewardship Matrix We used the basics of disaster management to remind us of the importance of creating and sharing a clear stewardship plan of action. Every unit’s stewardship matrix will look different and can be based on your needs, such as your unit’s giving levels, donor type, volunteer groups, etc. Some helpful tips that were shared at Team Stewardship:
- Examine your plan annually and determine constituent groups at risk of decreasing engagement and gift retention.
- Include proactive systems of communication to keep donors excited about their relationship with UGA.
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Stay organized and inform others in DAR about your plan so that they can work with you more easily.
After you have created your plan and shared it with colleagues for accountability, be sure to establish a clear project leader who knows how to delegate, stay organized, and make quick, thoughtful decisions. For more information, reach out to Melissa Lee. |
Preventing Scholarship Stewardship Disasters
Disaster preparedness and management focuses on creating plans to decrease the effect of disasters when they do occur. Follow these steps to ensure your scholarship stewardship runs as smoothly as possible: STEP 1: Fund Management
Understand what is going on with your funds: - Review allocations when UGAF sets annual spending budgets.
- Manage donor expectations with clear communication when gifts are made.
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Analyze fund agreements when questions are asked.
STEP 2: Awarding Since awarding is often removed from development office responsibilities, prevent the most common disasters by: -
Reviewing award amounts, spending, and spending budgets to maximize impact.
- Ensuring that award preferences are followed.
- Marking award timelines in your calendar.
- Communicating with donors when awards are made.
STEP 3: Recipient Interactions - Provide students with expectations for the year.
- Introduce yourself as a point-of-contact.
- Provide detailed instructions on events/meetings to both donors and recipients.
- Educate your recipients on their donors and what it means to be a recipient.
When things don’t go as planned, determine what can be done, communicate with the donor how the issue was addressed, and adjust for next time. For more information, reach out to Lauren Schlesinger. |
Stewardship Disaster Takeaways
Thank you, Lynsee Miller (Terry College), Catherine Henry (Terry College), Mary Alston Killen (Franklin College), and Kate Lovin (Parent Giving), for your openness to share “disaster stewardship” stories. Some takeaways included: - Check your work and have others check behind you.
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Build relationships with donors and colleagues–both are important to your success.
- Utilize GAIL.
- Request hard copy proofs of stewardship pieces for review.
- Always read the contract.
- Never assume anything!
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Institute for Disaster Management
Team Stewardship was held at the Institute for Disaster Management (IDM) on the Health Sciences Campus. The director at IDM, Curt Harris, explained the difference between a disaster and an emergency, and he shared the great work that IDM is doing across the globe. To make sure we left with an actionable skill, he walked us through a simulated disaster similar to those that students experience. We learned that a sensory experience with sound, light, and visuals can distract from your ability to make clear decisions if you are not prepared. And, we learned the importance of Stop the Bleed. All buildings on campus have a Stop the Bleed kit. We hope you will never need to use it, but locate yours so that you’ll know what is available to you in an emergency.
For more information about the great work of these UGA experts, reach out to Curt Harris. |
2022 Stewardship Consultations
We are in the home stretch! With just a few units left, Stewardship Consultations will be completed by the end of 2022. Daynes will share what she has learned from these meetings at the next Team Stewardship on November 15th.
Thank you to Stewies in Franklin College, CAES, Terry College, Ecology, Education, Engineering, Environment & Design, Forestry, GMOA, Grad School, Honors, Journalism, Law, Libraries, Pharmacy, Public Health, Social Work, Vet Med, SPIA, Student Affairs, Parent Giving, Planned Giving, Public Service & Outreach, Botanical Garden, and Georgia Commitment Scholarships! Sharing your stewardship plans will help us learn how we can serve you better in the central office.
For more information, reach out to Daynes Parker.
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Automated Acknowledgement for Schools and Colleges
Great news for people who like to make their jobs easier! We now offer stewardship emails designed and built in our office to automatically send through GAIL.
What does that mean? We work with you to design an acknowledgement email that works for your unit. Then, we work with Advancement Services to set it up in GAIL to send weekly to your donors! Once it’s approved, you can rest assured your donors will be thanked each and every week.
We hope this serves as an economical and timely way to acknowledge your donors, helps you out if you’re feeling understaffed, or just provides a great supplement to your already amazing work!
Currently we can offer one email per unit. You can see examples here and here.
For more information, reach out to Daynes Parker. |
Presidents Club
FY22 Presidents Club decals reflecting campus-wide giving between July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022 will reach mailboxes this week. Members will also be listed in the online Honor Roll of Donors through the Annual Report website. These are set to drop in October. Calli Choe is your contact for inquiries about Presidents Club recognition. The Annual Presidents Club Reception will be held on Friday, October 7, 2022 from 5 - 7PM at Tate Grand Hall. Invitations will be sent electronically to guests after Labor Day. Jordan Dotson is your contact for inquiries about the reception.
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PAW Society The annual PAWS Reception recognizes UGA faculty, staff, and retirees who gave $1+ to the University during the previous fiscal year and/or have documented a planned gift. This year’s event is this Friday, August 26th from 3:30 - 5PM at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. |
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FY22 Financial Endowment Reports
Thanks to all who sent edits to their stewardship recipient lists and updated the thank you message for your unit’s reports! We are moving through the process and will receive the full set of FY22 financial information from UGA Foundation in September. Reports are still on track to mail in November.
For more information, reach out to Caitlin Lacey. |
Faculty Gratitude Reports
Messages of thanks from 124 faculty will reach the mailboxes of 138 donors in September! You can view the mailing list here. Caitlin will email the PDFs of the inserts to Stewies once they are ready.
For more information, reach out to Caitlin Lacey. |
Scholarship Gratitude Reports
FY22 Reports will be reaching 653 constituent households this week! Thank you to everyone who played a part in this collaborative mailing. FY23 Reports will be mailed in three rounds, with the first mailing in Spring 2023. - First Round: Collection in fall 2022 and printing in spring 2023
- Second Round: Collection in spring 2023 and printing in summer 2023
- Third Round: Collection in summer 2023 and printing in fall 2023
For more information, reach out to Lauren Schlesinger. |
PAWS Reception August 26, 2022 | 3:30 - 5PM Mahler Hall - Georgia Center for Continuing Education
For more information, reach out to Calli Choe. Fall Development Meeting September 12, 2022 | 8:30AM Special Collections Library, 2nd Floor - Auditorium 271 ADRP Conference September 21-23, 2022 Albuquerque, New Mexico Presidents Club Reception October 7, 2022 | 5 - 7PM For more information, reach out to Jordan Dotson. Division Meeting October 17, 2022 Tate Grand Hall Heritage Society Football Tailgate November 5, 2022 | Time TBD For more information, reach out to Megan Powell.
Team Stewardship November 15, 2022 | 11AM - 2PM Flinchum’s Phoenix hosted by Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources
For more information, reach out to Melissa Lee. Team Stewardship May 18, 2023 | 11AM-2PM UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital hosted by College of Veterinary Medicine
For more information, reach out to Melissa Lee. |
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Do you have news to share in the next issue? Reach out to Caitlin Lacey! |
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Development and Alumni Relations
Donor Relations and Stewardship Quarters B | 100 Spear Road Athens, GA 30602 Caitlin Lacey Donor Reporting Coordinator
cslacey@uga.edu |
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Team Stewardship is an internal professional development community for stewardship professionals at the University of Georgia. You received this newsletter because you have been identified as a "Stewie" due to your role as an administrative, development, or external affairs professional who writes acknowledgements, creates donor communications, or coordinates donor recognition and events. If you are no longer in a stewardship position and no longer need to receive these newsletters, please reach out to Melissa Lee.
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